Comic Books, Depression, and Other Current Trends

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

I hope I freaked at least one person out with that title. No, I am not about to go into a new phase in my life where I struggle for health, that's just a line from a Stephen Lynch song that makes me laugh harder than a heyena in an elephant graveyard. See for yourself.

Anyway, I have having a spirited little debate the other day with a friend of mine. If you look on my followers list, he's the black and white one. We were talking about singing comedians and the skills they have to bring to the table. He pointed out, quite fairly, "I can write funny lyrics. If somebody is doing something I know I can do, I'm not impressed". He has a very good point, and in my opinion he covers a good 90% of all singing comedians. Most of them are guys who aren't really THAT funny, can't sing THAT well, and can't play guitar THAT amazingly, but when you link the three together, it looks like an actual performance. And, of course, since a song only lasts five minutes tops, the audience has to absorb all these things at once, so they end up cheering for somebody who probably doesn't deserve it. But there are a few shining beacons of light out there in the comedy world, and I wanted to analyze what made me (and MANY others) dig the hell out of these few singers.

I believe there are three types of musical comedians. Actually, there are probably hundreds of types, but I can only think of three that are good. There is the triple threat, who can sing like a bird, play like hell, and write witty, original lyrics. Stephen Lynch falls into this category for me. As a performer he's top notch (The man was on BROADWAY for god sakes), he's an amazing singer who writes funny and contravesial songs (and isn't scared of reactions), and he can play guitar like a madman. He brings everything a performer would need to bring to the table, and from everything I've heard, he's a hell of a nice guy to boot. David Johanasburg is in this category too, and since you've probably never heard of him, I'll put a song him and Lynch did together for a sampling. (Be warned, this one's really dirty. That's AFTER hearing Waiting...)

Type number two is the kind of guy who is just so naturally talented at singing, and has such a goofy personality, he can sing normal songs and make you laugh all the way through them. The weird part about this group is that there are plenty of established, professional singers who can fit into it as well. Eminem, Brad Paisley, and Dexter from the Offspring are three very different examples of this fact. All three of them have songs on their CD's that are fall down halarious, but nobody would ever call them comedians... well... maybe Marshall. However, in terms of a comedian first, one name pops to mind hard for me. Dan Finnerty and his band, The Dan Band, have 3 or 4 CDs our right now, and rule. They had a special on Bravo about five years back that I caught one night, and have never let this guy leave my mind since. He is one of the most charasmatic, goofy lead singers ever (he performs in a mechanics jumpsuit with backup singers/dancers in tweed suits...) and every time I've seen him it looks like he's bringing the party to LIFE. You have seen him before too! Remember the movie Old School with William Ferrel, at the wedding, when the greatest version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" you've ever heard came on? Peep it.

The last kind is the straight up comedian who has some talented music friends and a natural ear for music. USUALLY these come across as satire or parody, and for good reason! When you can't sing, you have to find something else to make people listen to what your saying. I USED to consider Steve Martin to be a type like this, but then I realized he's actually like an octouple threat. (Go get his banjo CD that just came out, it's cool). Now, in the past people like Rodney Dangerfield, Gilbert Godfried, and Pauly Shore would do songs that were purposely bad, but very funny, and usually achieved moderate success with them. Currently, however, there is a SHINING example of this style of comedy, and I'm digging the hell out of this guy. Right before he hosted the MTV Movie Awards, Andy Samburg and his musically talented posse' did a little video called "I'm on a Boat". I almost can't believe I'm posting this vid, because everyones seen it, but I'm giving the intertube slackers out there the benifit of the doubt. Aaaand Saturday Night Live doesn't like people embedding their shit, so here's a link - I'm on a Boat!

So, yeah, most musical comedians suck. Shit, even Dr. Cox was hating on Flight of the Choncords, and I LOVED their first CD. But there are a few notable ones out there, and I think this seems to be WHY the ones who are good ARE good! Let me know with any feedback if you agree, disagree, or want to buy me a drink sometime!

Okay, A year from today I'm going to be GIDDY from just watching Thor, and getting ready to go see First Avenger: Cap. Rock. And look at the awesome SHIELD logo in the middle... This is geekgasm-inducing stuff here people...P.S. I heard a totally unreliable rumor that at some point somebody said something about writing a Blue Beetle movie, and that they might actually have the script done. I choose to believe this, because a Blue Beetle movie would make my favorite DC character become someone who people had heard of... I wonder which version they'll put in this movie. Hey, did you hear there is a Blue Beetle movie coming out? Sweet...

So I'm browsing the net looking for some people doing Marvel cosplay for a little post I wanted to put, and found this while looking. Not Marvel, but possibly the BEST cosplay I have EVER seen!RIGHT!?!?!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I just had a disturbing experience... I was booking it through the torrential rains that Jacksonville seems to be experiencing to go get my mail, and on the way back wandered across the parking lot to talk to a couple of my neighbors (Lets call them Fire-Hair and Preggo). One of these lovely ladies is about 8 months, three weeks pregnant. So she's ready to pop. We had general conversation about the goings-on at the apartment complex, and I scolded Preggo on smoking for about the eight-hundredth time. It might just sink in after she has the baby.

Anyway, at this point, I heard one of the most disturbing sentences ever uttered by a woman to my ears. I understand statements like this can be made to husbands or boyfriends, because they "put this damn thing in me" or whatever, but leave us innocents unmolested by horrifying statements like this. "He's lower than he's ever been" she began, and I understood what this meant with no further elaboration.... and then ....

"My cooch must be pushed out like this far" ... with the lovely little fingers spaced symbol to illustrate the INCH AND A HALF she had to be talking about... followed by... "and I'm still only three centimeters dialated!"

*Sigh* I am now wondering if they make enough whiskey to make these thoughts go away. Owwww....

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Well, after another fun waterlogged day of looking for work in our stormy economy (Nice wordplay, huh?), I sat down infront of the old laptop and realized I've not written one post about comic books since I started this blog. When something is in the title of your blog, and you neglect to write about it, you pretty much fail as a person. WELL FAIL NO MORE!!!

Over at ComicBookResources.com they put up Marvel Comics' Solicitation list for August. Basically, that's all this shit they hope people are going to be excited about and order from their favorite comic book stores. For me, it's getting to look at lots of cool covers and find out whats coming out in Hardcover (THE way to read for storylines sake). So lets see what I think looks like fun off the list, shall we?The Amazing Spiderman #601 - From what I know so far in Spidey right now, him and good ol' MJ are divorced and pretty much done with their relationship... so why are we still getting covers like this? Not that I mind, as there is no humanly possible way to draw Mary Jane Watson as anything but stupidly sexy, but it seems like they can't figure out anythingelse to put on spidey covers.

Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #2: Deadpool basically owns the world. Any comic, web sketch, adult fan fiction novel, or anything else besides that fucking movie with him involved is gold to me. If you've never looked at Deadpool stuff, go buy or watch something. Now. Don't read the rest of this. Only really one more comic to go anyway. And boom goes the dynamite... (Click that web sketch link up there... here it is AGAIN)

Dark Reign: Hawkeye #5: Now, this is one storyline I'm actually into. All the fun shit with Norman Osbourne's Dark Avengers is fun, and his Iron Avenger armor looks incredibly badass... really. But the Hawkeye angle has to be my favorite. For those who don't know, Hawkeye has always been the funny smartass backbone of the Avengers (Ryan Reynolds should have held out for that role in the Avengers if you ask me). But now, in good old 616-ville, Bullseye is wearing the purple. And killing people for fun. While trying to act like the old Hawkeye and spit out one liners. He is AMAZINGLY badass, and I can't wait for this to come out in TPB form so I can read the whole arc in one sitting. Awesome covers on this run too.

Well, that about does it for all the cool shit I saw on the list. One last minute thing, if you're like me and only (for the most part) read comics after they come out in trade form, there are TWO coming out in August that you should immediately pick up. Hulk: GREY is coming out near the start of Aug, and is one of the coolest written and drawn Hulk stories ever. Tim Sale and Joe Loeb worked on the book, and it was the basis for the coolest scene in the Ed Norton version of the Hulk movie, when Hulk has Betty on the cliff and roars at the lightning that Thor threw down because he was watching the Hulk. Okay, that last part with the Thor stuff was speculation, but they finally cast Thor and Loki in the movie, so my brain is all over that....

Focus CD...

Secondly, if you haven't read it or don't already own Fallen Son or The Death of Captain America, they are putting out an Omnibus Hardcover that has Captain America #25-42, so you can read all about the conspiracy over who shot Cap, watch the Falcon scream at random people for three issues, be shocked at SharonCarter crying in a bathroom, and giggle and that damned Red Skull and all his insanity... Okay, I joke because I've read all these issues like ten times. This book kicks ass. Go get it.

Up next.... probably lots of Star Trek stuff... that movie kicked all kinds of ass and the interwebs has BLOWN UP with funny over it. See ya!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

I just saw an image of a long haired figure wearing what seems to be flowing fabric in the wall of my bathroom. Most would call the news and claim a religious experience. I think it was Jean Grey...Amen.

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About Me

Well hi there everybody reading the about me section of "Comic, Depression, and other current trends", hows it going? About me, huh? I'm 24 years old, and live in Jacksonville Florida. A large, but amazingly boring town. Around this quaint little area I like to extend my interests towards the performing arts. I'm a writer, comedian, actor, and magician. None of which I do particularly well. Which is why I started this blog! This will hopefully be my creative outlet. So lets go!